


To Steal a Childhood

by Turntechgodliness (AmberzillaRex)



Category: Rooster Teeth/Achievement Hunter/Funhaus RPF
Genre: Gen, Past Child Abuse
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-03-27
Updated: 2016-03-27
Packaged: 2018-05-29 09:11:34
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,370
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6368746
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AmberzillaRex/pseuds/Turntechgodliness
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Jeremy and Dan team up to break into a stately manor. Dan wants to get the job done. Jeremy wants to know if burglary counts as bonding.</p>
            </blockquote>





	To Steal a Childhood

**Author's Note:**

  * For [missingnolovefic](https://archiveofourown.org/users/missingnolovefic/gifts).



> This fic is dedicated to missingnolovefic. You were the first person to state they wanted this story to happen :D

“You’re sure they aren’t here?” 

Dan grunted, his focus on the lock he was picking as Jeremy stood nervously behind him, anxiously moving from foot to foot as he looked around. The estate seemed empty, no vehicles and not a soul in sight, and Dan had assured him that the residents were long gone from the premises before they’d arrived. 

“Look, mate, if you don’t stop bouncing about while I do this I’m going to have to tie you down, right? You’re making it hard to concentrate. There’s no one here, no security outside of an alarm that I know the code to, and they’re in Italy right now. You have nothing to be worried about. So calm down.” Dan’s hand twisted the lock pick he had in the door, grinning as the bolt finally clicked into place. “Does Geoff know you’re out here doing this?” Jeremy made a soft ‘pfft’ noise, shaking his head as Dan pushed the door open. He followed the older man into the manor, watching as he put in the override password to the alarm system before giving a little shrug. 

“Nah. He thinks I’m over here to meet with a connection. Which I mean, not totally wrong, you’re a connection, right? This is us, connecting over a burglary. Bonding, in a way.” Dan snorted, turning to face the entry hall and glancing around. The manor was old, decorated in the general style of old money with antiqued furniture and tiled. Everything looked pristine; from the large oil paintings lining the hall to the grand staircase just beyond where they stood. 

“I don’t really think that’s considered bonding...bloody hell, I always forget how posh this place is. Alright, let’s get what we’re here for, yeah? Room we want’s upstairs, fourth on the left.” Jeremy nodded, starting towards the stairwell and pausing as Dan stopped at a small table, watching the other man pocket what looked like a small photo frame of an older man. Raising a brow, he gave the other man a questioning look as Dan moved to join him on the stairs. “Trust me, it’s...priceless.” Jeremy nodded, and together the two started up the stairs. 

“How much is this place even worth?” The landing at the top of the stairs gave way to a hallway lined with plush carpet and more paintings, and Dan nodded towards the door they wanted as they started down the hall. 

“The building itself is about £4,500,000. That’s about...$6,358,700 American I think? Maybe a bit more? This is just a summer home, it’s not even that expensive, they bought it as a fix up project about twenty years ago, decided to keep it to send the us to whenever we were bad. What has worth is the countless things they’ve piled into here. Decorations worth thousands, family heirlooms, those sort of things.” Jeremy nodded, trailing a hand over the wall as they walked. The manor itself felt cold, devoid of the warmth a usual home would have. Everything in the building felt staged; from the perfectly placed decorations to the way the walls were painted, the entire building had an aura of discomfort to it that made a shiver run up his spine. He stopped near the door, focusing on the large photo frame just beside it. Two young boys stared back at him, the smaller of the two grinning widely in what only someone who knew him well could claim was a forced smile. The larger of the two looked displeased, staring at someone just outside the frame with a hard look. The smaller boy had a broken arm, and even Jeremy could see how unhappy the two boys were.

“And you two came here a lot?” Dan paused as they reached the door, his hand hovering over the knob as he glanced at the photo that had caught Jeremy’s attention. He moved to reach for the picture, glaring at it as he took in the image. 

“They sent him here a lot. When he was ‘bad’-” he made air quotes, a scowl on his face, “- which really just means when they couldn’t take his questions and hyperness any more, when they grew tired of the son they only wanted for propriety's sake, they’d ship him off here to be alone and miserable. So I started coming along. I was just a house boy, my mum was the cook. But we’ve been best friends forever and his family figured, if it kept him busy why not?” He turned back to the door, pushing it open with a shake of his head. “He was just a problem to be dealt with. Oldest child….experimental child. Too much life so they tried to take that vibrancy away from him. Stuck him away from people, which is probably why he’s so desperate for attention all the time now.” He entered the room and Jeremy followed, surprised to see that they had entered what appeared to be a teenagers bedroom. 

“They sound really awful, man. I’m glad he’s not trapped here any more though...it must of been great to escape from this life.” Dan offered him a half hearted smile, moving around the room with the practiced ease of someone who had been in it many times. 

“It wasn’t exactly easy. Gangs here, they’re a different sort of rough, mate. He’s had his lumps. But he’s happier now that I think he’s ever been. Which I’m glad about, he deserves it. Even though he’s a bit of a brat most the time, he’s still sunshine. He makes people happy, even when he’s being annoying.” Jeremy nodded, following Dan around the room to look at the random things scattered about. Science fair trophies, photographs, small random toys that looked far more expensive than anything you should give a child, all things that had a thin layer of dust over them. 

“What are we here for?” Jeremy’s gaze fell on Dan, who had moved to sit on the bed, running a hand over the comforter with a fond smile. The other man looked almost nostalgic, for all the talk of the manor being some sort of punishment, and he waited for Dan to speak instead of interrupting his moment. 

“Our childhood. Gavin sold most of the electronics that he had while we were here when we were on the streets, but he never took any of the things we played with before we had the video games and the telly.There’s only a few things here that are sentimentally valuable; and there’s a jewel vault in the master bedroom that his mum keeps his grandfather’s antique pocket watch in. It’s not only worth a pretty penny but…” he trailed off some, glancing at Jeremy as though sizing him up. “Gavin’s only close to one person in his family. Or was. His grandda was the only Free to ever show him that he wasn’t just a political prop for his parents.” Jeremy nodded, thinking back on his past conversations with Gavin. The other man hadn’t mentioned his family, ever, and though he had found it a bit weird after they’d gotten closer, he’d never felt it his place to ask about them. 

“Where is he now?” His question caused Dan to stiffen slightly, as though afraid Jeremy would use the information against Gavin for a moment before he relaxed slightly, rubbing the back of his neck. 

“Dead. We uh. There was a gang we fell in with, bad blokes who just wanted to watch the world burn, and Gav...he’s not for that. I mean I’m not either but he went out of his way to take them down a few notches when we left and they went after him. He was feisty til the end though-” He broke into a smile, “- took out a few of their own when they tracked him down in Italy. Gav took it hard though. That’s when he took the opportunity to head over to America.” Jeremy winced some, feeling that he might have overstepped the line some when Dan stood suddenly. “I’m going to bring him that bloody watch. His mum, bitch she is, did everything in her power to keep it from him even though his grandda willed it to him. In fact, most of the inheritance from his grandda was suppose to go to him, but the watch was what he wanted.” The look of determination on Dan’s face was admirable, and Jeremy crossed his arms over his chest as he gave a nod. 

“Alright. What else are we taking? You said something about toys you use to play with?” Dan chuckled, moving to the wall near the bedroom’s closet. Feeling along the wooden panel next to the door, he grinned as he found what he was looking for and Jeremy watched as he pried the board from the wall. There was a square hole where the panel had been, and Jeremy reached to pull out a long, thin case made of old leather. “What’s that?” Dan brought the case to the bed, undoing the snap for the closing and letting the items within slide out onto the comforter. 

“His grandda made it for us. It’s a snap together compact bow, oak and hand carved. It’s a beauty, and Gavin always regretted leaving it behind...we use to shoot it out in the woods out back.” He stroked his fingers over the carved wood fondly before reaching to fit the pieces together, snapping the two parts in place and locking them. The bow was large for a child, but small for someone of Dan’s height; but even so, it was as Dan had said, a beauty. 

“Wow. That’s gorgeous, Dan. Seriously.” Dan nodded, taking the bow apart and putting it back into the case, and Jeremy took another glance around. The room was as clean and tidy as Gavin’s room back at the penthouse was, and Jeremy couldn’t help but wonder if the tidiness was a trait of Gavin’s, or something that was ingrained in him from his upbringing. “Anything else before we grab that watch?” Dan shook his head, picking up the case and moving towards the doorway, pausing a moment as something on the night side table caught his attention. He grabbed what looked like a piece of fools gold from the table before pocketing it, turning back to leave the room. Jeremy followed, letting Dan lead them to the room at the far end of the hall. The master bedroom wasn’t as large as Jeremy had expected, but the bed was large and the room was decorated in white and gold. Dan made his way to a painting on the far wall, lifting it up and off the nail it was on to reveal a wall safe. 

“Bit tacky, but then again they never had much imagination. Bloody cliche though, and we always had a laugh over it, but really it’s just sad.” Jeremy took the case from Dan as the other man moved to start on attempting to open the vault, going through several different combinations before the lock popped and he was able to open the door. Taking the watch from the vault, Dan paused a moment before swiping the rest of the jewelry and valuables from it into the bag he carried, closing the vault again and turning to Jeremy with a grin. “Let’s get out of here. This place is awful.” Jeremy nodded, and the two men turned to leave, making their way out into the hallway. As they made their way down the staircase, Jeremy spotted what looked like a large family portrait that he hadn’t noticed when they’d entered. He approached it, taking in how serious they seemed; it was an oil painting, and Gavin’s parents looked as though they’d have rather been anywhere but. Beside them, off to the side slightly, sat Gavin. He was possibly ten years old, and even in a painting Jeremy could see the misery pouring off of him. He scowled, turning to look around for a moment before side stepping into the kitchen to look at what was available to use to vandalize the portrait. Returning to the entrance hall a moment later, he stared up at the painting for a moment before holding up the item he’d grabbed from the kitchen. Dan gave him a look, frowning, and shifted to lean against the wall. 

“This place has gotta burn.” Jeremy said it matter-of-factly, and Dan laughed, reaching to take the bow case from Jeremy to gesture at the painting. 

“If it must, it must.” Jeremy grinned, flicking the safety lock off of the brulee torch and holding it up against the painting’s canvas. He watched as it began to curl, not pulling the torch away until the flames were licking the frame. He watched as the painting went up, smoking and burning away the sneering faces of Gavin’s parents. 

“That feels better. They don’t deserve to be in the same painting as the Golden Boy of Los Santos.” Dan fixed Jeremy with a look, as though he was trying to figure him out, before reaching out to take the torch from him, tossing it aside. 

“They truly don’t. Now come on, before the fire alarms start going off.” Jeremy nodded, turning to follow Dan out the door with one last glance at the painting. They took off down the drive, stopping once they reached the end to turn and look at the manor. The fire had spread far in the few minutes it took them to reach the end of the driveway, no doubt aided by the many oil paintings along the walls. They stood watching for a long moment, before Dan turned to pull Jeremy away, leading him towards where they’d parked. “You’ve got a flight to catch, mate. Let’s not sit around waiting for the police to show up.” Jeremy chuckled, getting into the car as Dan slid into the driver's seat. Dan started the car, pulling out into traffic as in the distance, sirens could be heard. Jeremy waited a few minutes before turning to Dan, a wide grin on his face. 

“So does arson count as bonding?”


End file.
